Free Republic

As federal relief money flowed into local governments to help cover the costs of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, several police departments in Minnesota spent emergency funding on riot gear, Tasers, body cameras and other "civil unrest equipment." 5 INVESTIGATES identified the purchases in a review of more than 1,400 spending reports from cities, towns and counties, which detailed their use of funding received through the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Those expenses could potentially be flagged during upcoming audits since the federal government made it clear that such funding could only be used to cover "expenditures...

Over a week after lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom said they were approaching a deal on school reopening, negotiations over how to return California's students to classrooms have yet to yield any results. "People want their lives back and they want their kids to go back to school," said Matt Rexroad, a California political consultant and former Yolo County supervisor. "We are making progress, and it is stubborn," the governor said of talks. But teachers and some parents say schools shouldn't reopen until it's safe. The emergence of new variants could pose significant risks, CTA members say. The CTA this...

In July of 2015, China’s state media aired footage of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducting a simulated special forces operation. Generally, for an authoritarian regime to display its military might is not out of the ordinary — it’s a means of deterring a state’s adversaries abroad and its own citizens from dissent. However, this was no generic military footage. Those watching from Taiwan couldn’t help but notice a crucial detail: the building that the PLA is assaulting looks identical to the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. Satellite imagery of the Zhurihe Training Base, situated deep within Inner Mongolia, later...

<p>Democrats have introduced a resolution that would potentially bar President Trump from being buried in the Arlington National Cemetery and prevent federal funds from going to buildings displaying his names for being impeached twice.</p>

A seemingly effective way for politicians to justify our need for their services is to fabricate or exaggerate a problem, promise to fix said problem with a new program or lots of spending and then claim victory in the form of public acclaim and reelection. A good example of this behavior is President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan, which reflects a tweet by then-candidate Biden that he does "not buy for one second that the vitality of American manufacturing is a thing of the past." His plan asks for $400 billion to purchase American-made equipment, along with $300 billion...

A coalition of three conservative groups launched a multimillion dollar ad campaign to expose to America why President Joe Biden’s inaugural call for “unity” was a leftist joke. The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), Heritage Action for America and Americans for Public Trust released three ads revealing Biden’s gaslighting on “unity.” That theoretical call was undercut by the extreme liberal agenda of his policy and personnel choices. Politico reported that one of the ads highlight “the role ‘dark money’ played in electing Biden as well as shaping his Cabinet and policies.” The liberal outlet described the campaign as “biting.”

As Congress hammers out President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, California has worked out its own plan to get more cash into the hands of struggling Californians, particularly undocumented families left out of federal assistance.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz flew home from Mexico Thursday, amid outrage over his trip during a crisis-level storm in Texas — explaining he was only chaperoning his daughters and their friends on the flight. The Republican lawmaker was seen getting back on a plane to the US on Thursday afternoon and issued a statement explaining that was not on a vacation himself, but was accompanying his daughters on a flight to theirs.

A Florida lawmaker has requested Gov. Ron DeSantis order the state’s flags be lowered to half-staff to honor Rush Limbaugh’s passing. Limbaugh lived in Palm Beach, Florida, and died Wednesday from complications of advanced lung cancer.

Statues of Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley, as well as the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, were among the 41 public statues and other commemorative markers identified on a list from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration on Wednesday for further review as part of “a racial healing and historical reckoning project” started last summer. The city launched a website on Wednesday detailing the controversial monuments flagged by the mayor’s commission on monuments. Other statues on the list included a monument to President Ulysses S. Grant, a Benjamin Franklin statue, a police memorial tied to the Haymarket Riot and a...

A couple of weeks ago, Twitchy reported that Fairfax County, Virginia schools were looking for “monitors” to watch kids in a classroom while fully vaccinated teachers taught from home. Drew Wilder of NBC Washington reports that some students returned to the classroom Tuesday but were still learning virtually. Some students returned to the classroom today in Fairfax County. These students at Annandale HS are in the building but still learning virtually. Each is in a different class with a different teacher who is teaching from home. One of FCPS’ new class monitors is in the room.

More than two-thirds of U.S. service members offered the COVID-19 vaccine have opted to receive it -- but the high rate of troops turning it down has lawmakers voicing grave concerns.Speaking before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, Defense officials, including Air Force Maj. Gens. Jeff Taliaferro, vice director for operations on the Joint Chiefs, and Steven Nordhaus, director of operations with the National Guard Bureau, said the vaccine acceptance rate for troops is, on average, between 66% and 70%.Taliaferro added that the rate "varies by different groups," but vaccine refusal has not affected deployability because the military has...

School board members accidentally leave video meeting on "public", discuss limiting parents comments and more.

A day after Rush Limbaugh died, Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner attacked the late conservative radio host as a purveyor of disinformation, saying that Americans must protect democracy from others like him. Rob Reiner launched his social media attack on the late Limbaugh by calling him a liar, warning that other conservative media personalities are trying to deny climate change. “To protect our Democracy we must remain vigilant in calling out their big lies. Starting with climate change,” he wrote. Reiner is the latest left-wing Hollywood elite to attack Limbaugh following news of his death yesterday. The 70-year-old conservative radio legend...

With school cancelled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon. My staff and I are constant communication with state and local leaders to get to the bottom of what happened in Texas.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been accused of traveling to Cancun, Mexico, amid the ongoing crisis in Texas, where millions have been left without power or heat in freezing temperatures. Photos circulating on social media overnight appeared to show the senator at an airport and on an airplane. The idea that Cruz and his family had flown to Mexico soon spread on Twitter. LinkLinkTed Cruz was photographed at IAH in the United lounge flying from Houston to Cancun. AP confirmed that Cruz traveled to Mexico on Wednesday for a family vacation. The high-profile Republican lawmaker went for a long-planned trip...

Prediction: NASA Will Not Find Life on Mars February 17, 2021 | David F. Coppedge The Perseverance rover is scheduled to land today. As usual, the search for life is a priority for the mission. Our prediction that no life will be found on Mars is based on history, probability, the harshness of the Mars environment and the complexity of a minimal cell. We should qualify the prediction by stipulating that if any sign of life is found, it will turn out to be remnants of Earth life that somehow got transported to Mars, perhaps by a glancing meteorite. We...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed Andrew Cuomo for 'bullying' a state lawmaker who claimed the governor threatened to 'destroy' him unless he helped cover up the COVID-19 nursing home scandal. During an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, de Blasio addressed the claim made by assemblyman Ron Kim who said Cuomo made threats as part of an effort to get him to 'cover up' for a top aide who admitted that his administration concealed the real number of nursing home deaths from the virus. 'It's a sad thing to say ... but that's classic Andrew Cuomo,' de Blasio...

President Joe Biden wraps up his first full month in office this week having set a new record of speed and aggression in pursuing a partisan, hard-left agenda. At the Democrats’ virtual convention in 2020, former Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, branding the Democratic nominee a “unifier” with a commitment to bring the country together. “America is at a crossroads,” Kasich said, while standing at a physical crossroads for the taped address. The message of unity, decency, and bipartisanship became the defining theme of anti-Trump Republicans who promoted the most radical pair of candidates...

The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is authorized to receive taxpayer funding for animal research through January 2024, according to the National Institute of Health. The WIV received $600,000 in taxpayer funds between 2014 and 2019 through the nonprofit group EcoHealth Alliance to study bat-based coronaviruses. The president of EcoHealth Alliance, Peter Daszak, was the sole U.S. member in the World Health Organization delegation that investigated the origins of COVID-19 in China. Daszak said the White House should blindly accept the WHO’s determination that it’s highly unlikely that COVID-19 could have unintentionally leaked from the WIV. The Wuhan Institute of...